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 Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 10:09 pm
Marijuana legalization has been a heavily debated topic for decades now, so I believe it should rightfully have a place here in the New ED.
But in this thread I am talking about two different things, legalization & Decriminalization.
Legalizing Marijuana would make it legal/accessable to more than just medical paitients in every state in the US. (currently it is still medically legal in a few US states.)
Decriminalization, however, while not make Marijuana legal, would essentially just make it...less illegal. It would no longer be a felony to posses Marijuana. (the exact amount you have to have for it to be a felony, I'm not sure of, if any debator knows, please say so in your post.)
It has been proven scientifically that Marijuana has no lethal side-effects and is not addictive. It is incredibly non-toxic and as I'm sure many of you know, this makes it ideal in the treatment of many, many painful diseases.
Just a few include:
Cancer - Reaches the part of the brain that suppresses pain; also stimulates appetite and combats nausea associated with chemotherapy.
HIV/AIDS - Combats nausea, stimulates appetite to fight wasting syndrome.
Fibromyalgia, severe arthritis and other chronic pain disorders - Works as an analgesic to stop pain.
Glaucoma -Lowers intraoccular pressure, pain relief.
Multiple sclerosis - Can help relieve spasms and contractions.
Epilepsy and seizures - Can prevent seizures in some patients.
However, since Marijuana has been listed as a Schedule I drug(Right up there with Heroin!), it has been deemed "unsuitable" for "legal" medical use as well as for further testing and research. According to this classification, marijuana cannot be prescribed by a doctor even though he feels that the use of this substance is in the best interest of the patient.
While it is true there is a slight potential for addiction. They're as about addictive as any over-the-counter drug you could get, most of the time, less addictive. There is no record of anyone ever dying of marijuana by itself. It is not possible for a human being to overdose on cannabis, they literally cannot consume enough of the drug fast enough to cause them to die from it.
Discuss:
-The drug itself, and it's effects
-It's medical and/or recreational potentials
-Why/why not it should become legal
-Why/why not it should be decriminalized
-Personal experiences with the drug
-Related issues
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Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 10:18 pm
Decriminalization would be an excellent start. The only reason it's illegal now is because of propaganda used in the beginning of the 20th century. They claimed that marijuana was a murderous substance, causing white women to (le gasp!) want to sleep with colored people! Pot doesn't do much to most people, unless they sit and smoke an ounce in a hour. It usually makes people happy, calm and relaxed. And they eat alot more chips then normal. I think the only reason it hasn't been decriminalized, or atleast brought down from a schedule one drug is beacuase of how governments hate to admit that once, under another administration, they made a mistake.
Legalization would be a huge step, but it is altogether too unlikely. If they won't decriminalize it, there's now way they'll try to regulate it and make it safer.
It's not a war on drugs, it's a war on personal freedom.
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Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 10:45 pm
Yes, its a good idea. I don't smoke it myself, but I've spent plenty of time with people who do. Marijuana is not as unhealthy as either cigarettes or alcohol, both of which are legal.
I believe that you should be allowed to do what you want, as long as it does not endanger anyone else. So, if you get high as a kite, fill your veins with heroin, or drink till you barf, its fine as long as you don't get behind a car.
Marijuana is less harmful than many already legal drugs, and as was said, even helpful in some situations. Silliness.
But, the government will make less money if they can't bust people for it. So, they'll keep it illegal.
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Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 12:36 am
Lets have some statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse:
*"In 2002, Marijuana was the third most commonly abused drug mentioned int drug-related hospital emergency department (ED) visits in the contenential United States."
*"Contrary to popular opinion, this drug is not harmless."
Marijuana raises dopamine levels, creating a feeling of elation.
*"Marijuana contains more cancer-causing chemicals than tobacco smoke and carries the same health risks as smoking tobacco."
*"Marijuana interferes with the immune system, so the user becomes more susceptible to infections."
Side effects include:
*hallucinations and parinoia
*Impared short-term memory, reaction time, concentration, and coordination.
*Distorted sense of time, sight, touch, and sound.
*Decreased initiative and ambition
*bloodshot eyes
*dry mouth
*Lung irritation
*Heart and lung damage
*increased risk of lung cancer
*weakened immunity, increased succepibility to colds, flu, and viral infections
*increased appitite, leading to weight gain
*In pregnant females, increased risk of stillbirth and birth defects
*Changed hormone levels, affecting normal body development in teens
*In females, increased testosterone levels and risk of infertility
*in males, lower sperm count and testosterone levels.
Safe? Nope. No drug is safe.
It took me a while to type that btw...
All are proven F-A-C-T-S. I think it shoud not be either legalized or Decriminalized.
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Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 12:40 am
Sorry. Science wins. 3nodding I believed it until I took basic High School Health Class.... TT____TT I still have the paquet from the class about drugs. This Institute is not controled by the gov't and looks at the science, not the ethics. I honestly don't mind it for medical patients, but I can't support it otherwise.
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Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 7:54 am
I guess you don't use Advil or any other pain relievers, then. I don't, either.
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Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 10:49 am
kirara111 Lets have some statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse:
*"In 2002, Marijuana was the third most commonly abused drug mentioned int drug-related hospital emergency department (ED) visits in the contenential United States."
*"Contrary to popular opinion, this drug is not harmless."
Marijuana raises dopamine levels, creating a feeling of elation.
*"Marijuana contains more cancer-causing chemicals than tobacco smoke and carries the same health risks as smoking tobacco."
*"Marijuana interferes with the immune system, so the user becomes more susceptible to infections."
Side effects include:
*hallucinations and parinoia
*Impared short-term memory, reaction time, concentration, and coordination.
*Distorted sense of time, sight, touch, and sound.
*Decreased initiative and ambition
*bloodshot eyes
*dry mouth
*Lung irritation
*Heart and lung damage
*increased risk of lung cancer
*weakened immunity, increased succepibility to colds, flu, and viral infections
*increased appitite, leading to weight gain
*In pregnant females, increased risk of stillbirth and birth defects
*Changed hormone levels, affecting normal body development in teens
*In females, increased testosterone levels and risk of infertility
*in males, lower sperm count and testosterone levels.
Safe? Nope. No drug is safe.
It took me a while to type that btw...
All are proven F-A-C-T-S. I think it shoud not be either legalized or Decriminalized.
Your "facts" maybe in quotes, but that doesn't mean they are correct.
One of the "side effects" you listed is even a desired effect.
Increased appitite & weight gain, that's the reason they give it to Cancer and AIDS patients. It is a drug, like any other drug your doctor may perscribe. s**t, Morphine is a whole hell of a lot more dangerous than marijuana, but they give that regularly as a painkiller.
Doctors all around the country perscribe cannabis as a medicine. If they thought that it was dangerous enough to kill, then they wouldn't give it to anyone. The fact of the matter is, that marijuana works, it does what it is suppose to and that is why we use it, that's why we use any drug.
The bottom line, don't believe what the government tells you about this drug. The only reason that it isn't a legal drug is because they don't want to admit the mistakes of the past. They find it much easier to fool generation after generation into believing that it is a dangerous drug with no medical purpose. They're wrong.
<3
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Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 11:18 am
To back myself up, I'll post a few links to articles that talk about marijuana as a medical substance.
These articles were all written by Lester Grinspoon, M.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School.
Below is a testimony that Dr. Grinspoon gave before the Crimes subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee (U.S. House of Representatives)
in Washington, D.C. on October 1, 1997
"After its debut in 1941, penicillin rapidly earned a reputation as "the wonder drug of the ‘40s." There were three major reasons for that reputation: it was remarkably non-toxic, even at high doses; it was inexpensive to produce on a large scale; and it was extremely versatile, acting against the microorganisms that caused a great variety of diseases, from pneumonia to syphilis. In all three respects cannabis suggests parallels:
1) Cannabis is remarkably safe. Although not harmless, it is surely less toxic than most of the conventional medicines it could replace if it were legally available. Despite its use by millions of people over thousands of years, cannabis has never caused an overdose death. The most serious concern is respiratory system damage from smoking, but that can easily be addressed by increasing the potency of cannabis and by developing the technology to separate the particulate matter in marihuana smoke from its active ingredients, the cannabinoids (prohibition, incidentally, has prevented this technology from flourishing). Once cannabis regains the place in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia that it lost in 1941 after the passage of the Marihuana Tax Act (1937), it will be among the least toxic substances in that compendium. Right now the greatest danger in using marihuana medically is the illegality that imposes a great deal of anxiety and expense on people who are already suffering.
2) Medical cannabis would be extremely inexpensive. Street marihuana today costs $200 to $400 an ounce, but the prohibition tariff accounts for most of that. A reasonable estimate of the cost of cannabis as a medicine is $20 to $30 an ounce, or about 30 to 40 cents per marihuana cigarette. As an example of what this means in practice, consider the following. Both the marihuana cigarette and an 8 mg ondansetron pill—cost to the patient, $30 to $40 -- are effective in most cases for the nausea and vomiting of cancer chemotherapy (although many patients find less than one marihuana cigarette to be more useful, and they often require several ondansetron pills). Thus cannabis would be at least 100 times less expensive than the best present treatment for this symptom.
3) Cannabis is remarkably versatile. Let me review briefly some of the symptoms and syndromes for which it is useful.
Cancer Treatment
Cannabis has several uses in the treatment of cancer. As an appetite stimulant, it can help to slow weight loss in cancer patients.2 It may also act as a mood elevator. But the most common use is the prevention of nausea and vomiting of cancer chemotherapy. About half of patients treated with anticancer drugs suffer from severe nausea and vomiting, which are not only unpleasant but a threat to the effectiveness of the therapy. Retching can cause tears of the esophagus and rib fractures, prevent adequate nutrition, and lead to fluid loss. Some patients find the nausea so intolerable they say they would rather die than go on. The antiemetics most commonly used in chemotherapy are metoclopramide (Reglan), the relatively new ondansetron (Zofran), and the newer granisetron (Kytril). Unfortunately, for many cancer patients these conventional antiemetics do not work at all or provide little relief.
The suggestion that cannabis might be useful arose in the early 1970s when some young patients receiving cancer chemotherapy found that marihuana smoking reduced their nausea and vomiting. In one study of 56 patients who got no relief from standard antiemetic agents, 78% became symptom-free when they smoked marihuana.3 Oral tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) has proved effective where the standard drugs were not.4,5 but smoking generates faster and more predictable results because it raises THC concentration in the blood more easily to the needed level. Also, it may be hard for a nauseated patient to take oral medicine. In fact, there is strong evidence that most patients suffering from nausea and vomiting prefer smoked marihuana to oral THC.2
Oncologists may be ahead of other physicians in recognizing the therapeutic potential of cannabis. In the spring of 1990, two investigators randomly selected more than 2,000 members of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (one-third of the membership) and mailed them an anonymous questionnaire to learn their views on the use of cannabis in cancer chemotherapy. Almost half of the recipients responded. Although the investigators acknowledge that this group was self-selected and that there might be a response bias, their results provide a rough estimate of the views of specialists on the use of Marinol (dronabinol, oral synthetic THC) and smoked marihuana.."
If you'll believe some no-face government official over this experienced Harvard doctor, well then, that's you'r loss.
Here is the entire testimony along with references:
Dr. Grinspoon's testimony
This is a link to a number or articles and other writings by Dr. Grinspoon solely on the topic of medical marijuana:
Other Articles
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Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 11:42 am
I'm for marijuana when it comes to using it for medical purposes, not when for when it comes to teens trying to be social and feel good about themselves.
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Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 7:46 pm
~HomicidalTendencies~ kirara111 Lets have some statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse:
*"In 2002, Marijuana was the third most commonly abused drug mentioned int drug-related hospital emergency department (ED) visits in the contenential United States."
*"Contrary to popular opinion, this drug is not harmless."
Marijuana raises dopamine levels, creating a feeling of elation.
*"Marijuana contains more cancer-causing chemicals than tobacco smoke and carries the same health risks as smoking tobacco."
*"Marijuana interferes with the immune system, so the user becomes more susceptible to infections."
Side effects include:
*hallucinations and parinoia
*Impared short-term memory, reaction time, concentration, and coordination.
*Distorted sense of time, sight, touch, and sound.
*Decreased initiative and ambition
*bloodshot eyes
*dry mouth
*Lung irritation
*Heart and lung damage
*increased risk of lung cancer
*weakened immunity, increased succepibility to colds, flu, and viral infections
*increased appitite, leading to weight gain
*In pregnant females, increased risk of stillbirth and birth defects
*Changed hormone levels, affecting normal body development in teens
*In females, increased testosterone levels and risk of infertility
*in males, lower sperm count and testosterone levels.
Safe? Nope. No drug is safe.
It took me a while to type that btw...
All are proven F-A-C-T-S. I think it shoud not be either legalized or Decriminalized.
Your "facts" maybe in quotes, but that doesn't mean they are correct.
One of the "side effects" you listed is even a desired effect.
Increased appitite & weight gain, that's the reason they give it to Cancer and AIDS patients. It is a drug, like any other drug your doctor may perscribe. s**t, Morphine is a whole hell of a lot more dangerous than marijuana, but they give that regularly as a painkiller.
Doctors all around the country perscribe cannabis as a medicine. If they thought that it was dangerous enough to kill, then they wouldn't give it to anyone. The fact of the matter is, that marijuana works, it does what it is suppose to and that is why we use it, that's why we use any drug.
The bottom line, don't believe what the government tells you about this drug. The only reason that it isn't a legal drug is because they don't want to admit the mistakes of the past. They find it much easier to fool generation after generation into believing that it is a dangerous drug with no medical purpose. They're wrong.
<3
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Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 8:12 pm
The Tragic Mime I'm for marijuana when it comes to using it for medical purposes, not when for when it comes to teens trying to be social and feel good about themselves. I agree. Im all for meidical use, under medical conditions. I am however, against casual use of it. I used to smoke it with some friends of mine, and while I did feel pretty good, I felt like crap afterwards. for about two weeks after id smoke, i couldnt remember hardly anything. The last time I smoked, I almost died because of a weak heart due to childhood surgery.(I know its my fault for doing it even though I knew I had heart trouble.) I overheated and my heart felt like it was going to fall right out of my chest.
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Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 9:02 pm
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Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 6:33 am
Discuss: -The drug itself, and it's effects Happy drug! The governments mainly have a problem against it for the possibility of a freak out. the problem is the at 75% of the population are at a higher risk of a freak out than the other 25%. -Why/why not it should become legal Less dangerous than cigarettes and they are not where nar as dangerous as acid ect. -Why/why not it should be decriminalized In Australia it is pretty much decriminalized. -Personal experiences with the drug None I am in the 25% who must not smoke it as we have a predisposition to dangerous freakouts. But I have friends whoi are both dealers and users - they are so much fun. -Side Notes In America if you are arrested for the position of marijuana then you cannt go to university but if you are a convicted murderer then you can still go to university Quote: Side effects include: *Impared short-term memory, reaction time, concentration, and coordination. Alcohol does this too so do you think Prohibition should be brought back into play? Quote: *Distorted sense of time, sight, touch, and sound. *Decreased initiative and ambition *bloodshot eyes *dry mouth *hallucinations and parinoia These are part of the attractiont marijuana and these are not as bad as what some medications give you ie. antidepressants. Also hallucinations and paranoia are more common in hydroplanic marijuana which contains chemicals to speed up the growth. Natural marijuana is much less dangerous but more potent Quote: *Lung irritation *Heart and lung damage *increased risk of lung cancer These occur largely if you smoke tabacoo along with marijuana. Marijuana is not a cancergenic - it doesn't cause cancer but tabacco does. Quote: *weakened immunity, increased succepibility to colds, flu, and viral infections *increased appitite, leading to weight gain Same things happen if you are a smoker or an alcoholic. But it is harder to get addicted to marijuana then tabacco and alcohol and therefore less dangerous. Quote: *In pregnant females, increased risk of stillbirth and birth defects WTF! Same thing occurs when you smoke or drink whilst pergnant - but if you do want the baby then you don't smoke/drink at all. Quote: *Changed hormone levels, affecting normal body development in teens I have never seen/heard this happen. What is 'normal' for a teen anyway? Quote: *In females, increased testosterone levels and risk of infertility *in males, lower sperm count and testosterone levels. Yes more birth control! Its better for the world if we have more infertile people having sex than fertile.
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Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 8:39 am
I'm fine with it.
Make it legal, and then tax the LIVING s**t out of it. The government would either make a fortune, or they would end MJ use once and for all.
Not to mention that it would absolutely break the back of organized crime.
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